I am in the industry. Rather not say who right now. Have been for 30 plus years along with some time in the regulatory end of this so I know a bit about drilling wells. I don't think I ever made a secret of it. Why do you ask?

i'll bet y were born in texas or yr parents were? i feel i have to tell a little story here. in the mid to lat 70's early eighties i went to work during a long layoff from the steel mill for a company doing exploration for gas and oil , our paychecks had AMOCO on them , we wer4e taking "inventory" under sec of interior James Wtt opened all fed property. I know first hand the horrible things that can happen form gas/oil problems , takes hundreds of years to fix m..........,.don't try to bullshit an old bullshitter

No sir, was born right outside of Pittsburgh in a small mill town. Went to college, earned a degree as a geologist and went to work for a large local gas company in Pittsburgh. Drilled wells from New York to Kentucky with the majority being in western PA and West Virginia.During the drilling downturn, went to work for PADEP. Am now retired from the DEP and working as a geologist in the industry again.As I said before, not trying to BS anyone. The industry is VERY different now than it was in the 1970's. I have seen the good and the bad over my career and drilling has never been safer or more environmentally friendly than it is now. It is still an extraction industry, but the issues you are reading about, although they happen at times, the short and long term affects are greatly exaggerated.I know because I was personally involved with a lot of them! I am an avid fisherman and hunter and would not allow anything to affect water the way the news is reporting things. Sorry, but that's the way I see it.

Gudgeonville wrote:No sir, was born right outside of Pittsburgh in a small mill town. Went to college, earned a degree as a geologist and went to work...

My story is very similar. Born & raised in Butler, degree in geology from PSU in '78, been in the energy business ever since, almost entirely in the upstream. As far as knowledge of the energy business goes, folks here are great fly fisherman.

So it's the news media that's exagerating the entire situation? Or is possible that one person working for one drilling company isn't involved with every incident out there?

Preferred practices...industry speak that's prepared by the lawyers that basically says look everyone were're great cooporate citizens and we will band together to ensure our lawyers will work with other companys' lawyers to write these statements that make it appear we are doing something above and beyond...

I'd like to a list of how many POET systems each energy company is paying to operate and maintain on private water wells.

"Casing failure" is used by DEP lawyers and compliance anytime small amounts of shallow gas or "bubbles" are seen behind casing after the well is cemented even if the shallow gas or bubbles are due to coal zones, shallow natural gas zones, or sometimes just air moving outside the casing do to setting, etc. Used way to often even if that is not the exact issue. Lawyer stuff! It is also used any time there is a failure near the surface at the base of the BOP. (Atgas well) Just because there is a casing failure doesn't mean an aquifer is touched or polluted. Casing failures can be fixed. My personal opinion is that the problems written about are not casing failures but inconsistencies in a cement job that are usually fixed whenever they occur.

The big 3 Lack of knowledge,Greed and fear on everyones part.The gas companies are still learning,We as land owners dont not know whats going on around us and to many pockets are being filled.no less the danger to the MOST IMPORTANT resource above or below ground.

To me TIME is the most important resource above or below ground. I don't know how the coal thing went , was too young , but i saw and paid attention to the windmill race. Rushing always leads to mistakes or accidents.

Unfortunately for us, rushing things is a critical element to the oil companies business models. They need to be continously installing new wells to account for the rapid decrease of gas production after the wells are initiated. It's all about maximizing short term profits. If they can't rush, they'll just pack up and take their high paying jobs back down to West Virginia or Wyoming. Or so they say.